Do you agree with #1 most dangerous power tool?

We surveyed woodworkers at WoodNet and FamilyWoodworking and put together a list of the tools they thought were the most dangerous, plus safety and maintenance resources (when available) for each tool.

I’m sharing to get your thoughts on this project and because I’d like to know other safety resources I may have left out!

Also I wondered if you agreed with the other woodworkers that YOU are actually the most dangerous tool in your wood shop?

11 replies so far

This is great information. All tools are potentially dangerous – some have more potential than others. However, by far, the most dangerous is the first “tool” in the link and that is me (or you!). Being aware, rested, not rushed and focused on the task at hand is important. I am glad the human factor is first on the list.

I must agree that the ToolCrib folks have hit the nail on the head. The human factor is the most influential, when it comes to being safe in the woodshop. Thanks for sharing this information with the LumberJocks.

I’m tired of clever top ten lists like this. (Maybe it’s my mood today.) Human beings are not power tools. I have never had to connect electricity to my brain to operate. Now if the question was posed “what is the most dangerous object in your workshop?” I may agree with the answers.

To me, the question and answer here is analogous to asking “what is the most dangerous place on earth? And answering “the airless vacuum of space.”

My religious convictions abandon me, when I’m yelling at you that I dont give a “F*” who’s on the phone, my fingers are too close to this carbide tipped blade moving at 1700 rpm plus, go away and take a note.

I don’t have people come and bother me in the shop. My wife even stays away. But I notice when I’m working at the Woodworkers Club Toy making workday. We have a lot of people there. Today there were 11 people working on machines. band-saws (3) table-saw’s (1) power sanders (3), routers (2). I don’t walk behind anyone until the wood is away from the blade, and then I pat them on the back to make sure that they know I’m coming through. I was the only one hurt today. I hit my hear (bald) on the edge of the carport roof. (Why is it 5’10” off the ground?)

-- I've been blessed with a father who liked to tinker in wood, and a wife who lets me tinker in wood. Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

Something about band saws that has always stuck in my mind. My 8th grade shop teacher told us about a freak accident that took place years before. Someone was standing on the side of the saw watching a demonstration, the blade broke, flew out, and stabbed him in the chest. Ever since I was told this, I have always advised anybody in my shop to never stand on the side of the saw. Also many years later my old safety conscious instructor lost a finger on the band saw.

Dick, I recall hearing several woodworkers with way more experience than me saying the band saw is more dangerous than the table saw simply because people let their guard down and don’t treat it with as much respect.

I don’t think we are the most dangerous power tool in the shop. I think the most dangerous power tool in the shop is whatever one we respect the least. As I mentioned on a previous post, my little brother has run a drill bit through his thumb twice now with his cordless drill and he’s never so much as scratched himself once on a router or a shaper or a table saw and he works full-time in a cabinet shop, using the latter three eight or ten hours a day.